Pushing it NSA-style

5:08 PM,
Jun. 14, 2013

Charles Krauthammer

Written by

Charles Krauthammer

Thirty-five years ago in United States v. Choate, the courts ruled that the Postal Service may record "mail cover," i.e., what's written on the outside of an envelope - the addresses of sender and receiver.

The National Security Agency's recording of U.S. phone data does basically that with the telephone. It records who is calling whom - the outside of the envelope, as it were. The content of the conversation, however, is like the letter inside the envelope. It may not be opened without a court order.

The constitutional basis for this is simple: The Fourth Amendment protects against ...